Team 3 joins the Great Sherlock Holmes Debate

Posted by Steve Emecz on October 13, 2011

The official press pass holders, Always 1895, broke the news last night that after huge pressure from fans, we have added a third team to the debate. The fans have argued that although there hasn't been a major 'traditional' adaptation of Holmes in the last decade, the ongoing and enduring influence of, at very least the Granada series with Jeremy Brett, should have a voice. Team 3 brings together 'The Traditional Adaptations' and whilst the ITV series is the most iconic, will also include team members from several adaptations that stay very close to the original Arthur Conan Doyle stories. Team 3 if you like will set the benchmark against which the other two teams can put forward their arguments. Team 3 will be led by Nick Briggs who plays Holmes in a major new audio adaptation of Holmes being released this month. Nick is probably best known as the voice of the Daleks and Cybermen from Dr.Who and has played Holmes before in the theatre. He has an intricate and recent knowledge of traditional adaptations and we look forward to Nick's comments in the run up to the debate. There is no question that traditional adaptations (done well) add value to the legacy of Holmes whenever they are broadcast as they are simply communicating the original stories in a new medium. The argument that the other two teams have to get across is that the changes from the original that they have are outweighed by other factors - interest, excitement, celebrity, reach and a host of other things I am sure the teams are already working on. Always 1895 will be revealing the team members as they are confirmed - as you can imagine, there are several heavyweights in the Holmes world that come from the traditionalist camp. There are a few days to join the The Great Sherlock Holmes Debate Facebook page where the 80 audience places will be released in October. There are around 400 members now but we expect that number to increase a lot with the introduction of team 3. Please remember the debate is supporting two important causes - Save Undershaw and BAFTA for Jeremy Brett - please check out their sites and join/like their pages on Facebook (Undershaw Trust on Facebook) (BAFT4JB on Facebook).